And they did even better at their specialties as No. 23 Northern Illinois hammered Eastern Michigan 59-20 Saturday.

Jordan Lynch had six total TDs, ran for 99 yards and was 16-for-20 passing for 223 yards in two and a half quarters. Tommylee Lewis caught eight of those passes for 107 yards in addition to his running and passing exploits as NIU moved to 8-0 (4-0 MAC West) for the first time in its 45-year history as an FBS school.

“Tommy, like some other guys, has earned the right to have the ball in his hands, so we just put the ball in their hands,” coach Rod Carey said.

Lynch, Lewis and backup QBs Drew Hare and Matt McIntosh threw for 331 yards and seven TDs and had a combined passer rating of 256.8 on the NCAA scale.

Lynch had a career-high passer rating, but liked his catch best.

“It’s fun, having someone else throwing it and acting like you are a receiver,” said Lynch, who became the ninth player in NCAA history with 5,000 career yards passing and 3,000 rushing.

Lewis, likewise, enjoyed being a passer.

“He’s been calling for that play for three years,” Carey said.

“I’m just getting the hang of this quarterback thing,” Lewis joked. “I’ll back up Jordan.”

NIU made this game a fun run from the start, going 82, 80 and 50 yards on its first three drives to take a 21-0 lead in the first quarter. The Huskies led 38-3 at the half over Eastern Michigan (1-7, 0-4) and ran 327 yards) as well as it passed.

Lewis’ 81 yards on four jet sweeps were a big part of that run game.

“Whatever look they showed us, we just took what we wanted,” Lewis said.

Even if that meant receivers throwing and quarterbacks and receivers running.

“Our wide receivers and running backs know that everybody is going to run the ball in this offense,” Carey said.

NIU played with video-game efficiency, especially in the first quarter. The only Huskie third-down plays on their first three touchdown drives were all third-and-1.

“They showed some formations they had not shown and unnerved our guys a little bit,” EMU coach Ron English said.